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Polaris Securities chairman found dead

The body of Polaris Securities Co (寶來證券) chairman Wayne Pai (白文正) was found between Dacangyu islet and Xiyu reef on the outlying island of Penghu early yesterday, police said.

Pai’s body was discovered by a fisherman, Chuang Wan (莊萬), when he was fishing in the vicinity around 5:50am yesterday, Captain Chen Shih-an (陳世安) of the Penghu County Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Corps said.

When Chuang saw the body, he hooked the body to his boat, towed it back to port slowly and called the Coast Guard, police said.

The discovery of Pai’s national health insurance card helped confirm his identity, police said, adding that prosecutors and forensic experts would examine the body later in the day to determine the cause of death.

Pai, 55, had been out of contact since he flew to Penghu on Wednesday. He called up several Polaris staffers after arriving at Makung Airport in Penghu at around 4:30pm that day but had not contacted his company or family since then, police said.

Pai’s wife and four Polaris staffers flew to Penghu on Thursday to seek police help in locating him.

Police said they checked hotel guest lists around the county, but found no record of Pai staying at any local hotel.

“We discovered that he had a phone conversation with his lawyer at 12:30am on Thursday,” a Penghu police officer said. “But we don’t know what they talked about.”

Penghu police then posted Pai’s photograph at public places around the county in an effort to find him.

The body of Pai was taken to a funeral parlor on Penghu yesterday.

His death came amid allegations that Chang Chun-yen (張俊彥), a former president of National Chiao Tung University who has been nominated by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to head the Examination Yuan, had been receiving payments from Polaris since 2004, when the university conferred an honorary doctorate degree on Pai.

Sources said Pai was upset by the reports but had chosen to keep silent as he did not want his remarks to complicate the situation or affect Chang’s prospects for securing the top Examination Yuan post. The Legislative Yuan is scheduled to hold a vote on Ma’s Examination Yuan nomination list next Friday.

Pai was also suspected of involvement in an insider trading scandal and was released on May 11 after paying bail of NT$20 million (US$658,000) set by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Pai reported to the prosecutors’ office after returning from an overseas business trip that day.

Prosecutors are still gathering evidence for charges of breach of trust and insider trading against Pai and other members of his family in connection with the scandal in which the Pais reportedly improperly accrued NT$500 million in financial gains in 2004.

Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office spokesman Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村) said yesterday that Pai’s death would not affect the investigation into the case.

Also see: Polaris appoints new chairman
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